I changed the design theme of the site to see how it looks and if it makes the reading more easy… Tell me if you prefer this or the older one…Right now, i’m working on the Stackalee Variations and it’s gonna be a fun listening, for sure, so see you soon…
18 “Gonna die with my hammer in my hand” by The Williamson Brothers & Curry
The Williamson Brothers & Curry’s World
Arnold (fiddle) and Irving (guitar) Williamson were from Logan County, West Virginia, like two other Anthology artists Frank Hutchinson and close neighbour Dick Justice. They recorded a few sides in the twenties for Okeh with a banjo player named Curry (I’m pretty sure he didn’t played a five-string on this records but something like a uke-banjo or tenor). Judging by the six sides we know, they were an old-timey dance act and it’s too bad they didn’t record more because they were on of the best ever recorded in this genre. Their version of “John Henry” is, in my opinion, one of the greatest version of the song too. One can feel a strong influence of black music on all this West-Virginian musicians, in a very obvious way with Hutchinson and Justice who sang many Blues songs but also with the wild square-dance music of The Williamson Brothers.
-TRACK LIST:
1.Warfield
2.Cumberland Gap
3.The Fun’s All Over
4.Lonesome Road Blues
5.The Old Arm Chair
6.Gonna Die With My Hammer in My Hand
The John Henry Variations
”John Henry” is the most famous american folksong of all time , one of the most recorded too by musicians of all kind and it took me a long time to select my favorite versions among the hundreds recorded. After a closer look at my personnal collection of cds and lps in search of “john Henry” tracks, i completed with things found on Emusic and on the folk collections available on the internet (Max Hunter’s collection, Digital Library of Appalachia). I ended up with 100 performances coming from all the important folk and vernacular genres of 20th century America; From work songs to Blues, Old-time string band to Bluegrass, folk to jazz, etc… Black and white traditionnal music are equally represented, as the figure of John Henry and his impact on the american mind knows no boundaries of race. I think the popularity of “John Henry” is not only due to the story it tells but most important how it tells it, which melody carries the tale of this heroic man. This tune is the quintessential american melody, full of pulse and rhythm, going back and forth between the high and low notes, from a scream to a whisper… Among the many different instruments used for singing “John Henry”, the guitar used with a bottleneck to slide on the strings is the most appropriate (and one of the most widespread among blues guitarist) to render the “blue” notes and the whailing quality of the melody. The root of its pentatonic scale and syncopated rhythm is obviously an african one and was carried here by the vocal and instrumental genius of the african-american slaves that built the land. An important part of the “vitality” of american vernacular music is in fact due to known and unknown african-american musicians, who influenced white folk musicians, most strongly in the South, and left their mark on all popular music ever since.
-Lots of things have been written about John Henry and the song about him, so much that it would be too long for me and above my capacities to write down for you all this informations here. Instead i’ll give a few links that will help you explore the John Henry’s myth.
- First, there’s this great website dedicated entirely to the subject that summarize every aspect of the legend and gives a bibliography, a short discography and some different lyrics versions.
-The Wikipedia page about John Henry
-I also recommand a book about the railroad in american folksongs written by Norm Cohen called “The long,steel rail”. The chapter about “John Henry” is really excellent.
-I classified the 100 tracks under a few categories but i recommand that once you’ve downloaded the entire set to mix them as you want, make your personnal favorite list and most important have a fun and enjoyable listening experience
Part 1: Field Recordings & 78rpm records
1.Anonymous prisoners, from “Alan Lomax’s Prison Songs Vol.2: Don’tcha Hear Poor Mother Calling?”
2.Arthur Bell, from “Afro-American Spirituals,worksongs and ballads”
3.Rich Amerson, from “Negro Folk Music of Alabama, Vol. 3″
4.Willie Turner, from “Negro Folk Music of Alabama, Vol. 6″
5.Ed Lewis, from “Southern Journey Vol. 5: Bad Man Ballads – Songs of Outlaws and Desperadoes”
6.Guitar Welch, Hogman Maxey, & Robert Pete Williams, from “Angola Prison Worksongs”
7.Blind John Davis, from “Field Recordings Vol. 2: North & South Carolina, Georgia…”
8.Reese Crenshaw, from “Field Recordings Vol. 2: North & South Carolina, Georgia…”
9.Leadbelly, from “Lead Belly’s Last Sessions”
10.”John Henry Blues”, Fiddlin’ John Carson, from “Vol. 1 (1923-1924) – Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order”
11.”Gonna Die With My Hammer in My Hand Curry”,The Williamson Brothers, from the Anthology
12.”John Henry Blues”, Two Poor Boys, from “American Primitive – Volume 2 – Pre-war Revenants 1897-1939″
13.Riley Puckett, from “Guitare Country : From Old Time To Jazz Times 1926-1950″
14.The Skillet Lickers, from “Volume 1 (1926-1927)”
15.Henry Thomas, from “Texas Worried Blues”
16.”John Henry Blues”, Earl Johnson, from “Mountain Blues”
17.Deford Bailey, from “Best of Blues Vol.1 : Harmonica Genius Deford Bailey “
18.”Death Of John Henry (Steel Driving Man)”, Uncle Dave Macon, from “Classic Sides New York 1924-1926″
Part 2: THE BLUES
1.Snooks Eaglin, from “Country Boy Down In New Orleans”
2.Etta Baker with Taj mahal, from “Sisters Of The South”
3.John Jackson, from “Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down”
4.Pink Anderson, from “Gospel, Blues And Street Songs”
5.Hobart Smith, from “In Sacred Trust: The 1963 Fleming Brown Tapes”
6.John Cephas and Phil Wiggins, from “Richmond Blues”
7.Lonzie Thomas, from “Lonzie Thomas”
8.Muddy Waters And Memphis Slim, from “Chicago Blues Masters, Vol. 1″
9.Furry Lewis, from “Shake ‘Em On Down”
10.Jesse Fuller, from “San Francisco Bay Blues”
11.Peg Leg Sam, from “Early In The Morning”
12.Lesley Riddle, from “Classic Mountain Songs from Smithsonian Folkways”
13.John Lee Hooker, from “Jack O’Diamonds”
14.Fred MacDowell, from “When I Lay My Burden Down”
15.Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry, from “Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry Sing”
16.Ed Cabbell, from the Digital Library of Appalachia
17.Big Bill Broonzy with Pete Seeger, from “Big Bill Broonzy sings folk songs”
18.John Renbourn, from “John Renbourn”
19.Mike Seeger, from “Early Southern Guitar Sounds”
20.Kristina Olsen, from ”Kristina Olsen”
Part 3: Country, Bluegrass, Old-time
1.Johnny Cash, from “Blood,Sweat and Tears”
2.Fred Cockerham and Kyle Creed, from “Clawhammer Banjo, Volume One”
3.The Stanley Brothers, from “Shadows Of The Past”
4.Glen Smith, from “Clawhammer Banjo, Volume Three”
5.Roscoe Holcomb, from “Friends Of Old Time Music”
6.Glen Stoneman, from “Southern Journey Vol. 2: Ballads and Breakdowns”
7.Doc Watson & Clarence Ashley, from “Original Folkways Recordings Of Doc Watson And Clarence Ashley, 1960-1962″
8.New Lost City Ramblers, from “Volume 5″
9.Dock Boggs, from “His Folkways Years 1963-1968 “
10.Bill Cornett, from “Mountain Music Of Kentucky”
11.Hazel and Alice, from “Pioneering Women of Bluegrass”
12.”New John Henry”, Bill Monroe, from “Bill Monroe sings Country Blues”
13.Buell Kazee, from “Buell Kazee Sings and Plays”
14. J.C. and Vernon Sutphin, from “The Stoneman Family – Sutphin, Foreacre, and Dickens”
15.Tommy Jarrell, from “Legacy of Tommy Jarrell, Volume 3: Come and Go with Me”
16.Don Reno & Red Smiley, from “On Stage”
17. The Lilly Brothers, from “Early Recordings”
18.Merle Travis, from “The Guitar Player”
19.Doc Watson, from “Songs for Little Pickers”
20.Larry Richardson and the Blue Ridge Boys With Buddy Pendleton, from “Larry Richardson and the Blue Ridge Boys With Buddy Pendleton On Fiddle”
21.Art Rosenbaum, from “Five-string banjo”
22.Bruce Molsky & Big Hoedown, from “Bruce Molsky & Big Hoedown”
Part 4: Black banjo players and string bands/ Instrumentals
1.Joe Thompson and Odell Thompson, from ”Black Banjo Songsters of North Carolina & Virginia”
2.James Roberts, from “Black Banjo Songsters of North Carolina & Virginia”
3.Homer Walker, from “Digital Library of Appalachia”
4.Leonard Bowles & Irvin Cook, from “Digital Library of Appalachia”
5.Big Sweet Lewis Hairston, from “Digital Library of Appalachia”
6.Blind James Campbell And His Nashville Street Band, from “B.J.C and his Nashville Street Band”
7.Jack Sims/Virgil Perkins, from “Folk Music U.S.A.: Vol. 1″
8.Howard Armstrong, from “Louie Bluie”
9.(autoharp) Kilby Snow, from “Masters of Old-time Country Autoharp”
10.(banjo) Winnie Winston, from “The Old-time Banjo Project”
11.(dulcimer) I-D Stamper, from “Digital Library of Appalachia”
12.(banjo) Casey Helton, from “Digital Library of Appalachia”
13.(fiddle and banjo) W.L. Gregory & Clyde Davenport, from “Digital Library of Appalachia”
14.(piano) Blind John Davis, from “Blind John Davis”
15.”John Henry Medley” (banjo), Tony Trischka, from “Territory”
16.(mandolin and guitar) Jim & Bill Fuller, from “Digital Library of Appalachia”
17.(piano) Janis Carper, from “Digital Library of Appalachia”
18.(autoharp) Harvey Reid, from “The Autoharp Album”
19.(accordion) John Willis Tolliver, from “Digital Library of Appalachia”
20.(Piano) Abe Spangler, from “Digital Library of Appalachia”
Part 5: The Folk Revival & Beyond
1.The Golden Gate Quartet & Josh White, from ”Freedom: At the Library of Congress (1940)”
2.Pete Seeger, from ”American Favorite Ballads, Vol. 1″
3.Aaron Copland & London Symphony Orchestra, from “The Copland Collection: Orchestral & Ballet Works”
4.”Legend Of John Henry”, Hoyt Axton, from “The Greatest Stars Of Folk Music”
5.John Jacob Niles, from “I Wonder As I Wander”
6.Lonnie Donegan, from “The Excellence of…”
7.Harry Belafonte, from “The Original Calypso and Other Folk Songs”
8.Woody Guthrie & Cisco Houston, from “American Roots- A History Of American Folk Music”
9.”The Saga Of John Henry “,The Smothers Brothers, from “Sibling Revelry”
10.Odetta, from “Live in concert”
11.Paul Robeson, from “The Originals – Spirituals”
12.Paul Clayton, from “Dulcimer Songs and Solos”
13.Richard Dyer-Bennet, from “Richard Dyer-Bennet #5″
14.Bob Gibson, from “Yes I See”
15.Counterpoint, Robert De Cormier, conductor, from “Let Me Fly: Music of Struggle, Solace, and Survival in Black America”
16.”Young John Henry”, The Shake ‘Em Ups, from ‘The Shake ‘Em Ups’
17.Bill Smith, from “Folk Jazz”
18.The Gun Club, from “Da Blood Done Signed My Name”
19.Bruce Springsteen, from “We Shall Overcome – The Seeger Sessions”
20.”John Henry Variations”, John Fahey, from “Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes”
Photos: Leadbelly (everytime i try to picture John Henry i think of him), drawing of John Henry, statue of John Henry in West Virginia, “The Big Bend Tunnel” sign, a children’s book about John Henry
-Well, now to relax yourself, just watch Disney’s short animated movie about John Henry
-Let’s end with Mississippi Fred Mac Dowell
-Toward the end of the Anthology, we’ll come back to John Henry, this time with the work song variant sang by Mississippi John Hurt “Spike Driver’s Blues”….
“The taste for folk music”
For those who don’t know it yet, there’s a great music blog called “Wrath of the grapevine” who have wonderful posts with really good writings to present the music. This week “The Irate Pirate” (that’s the mysterious name of the creator of the blog) has posted especially for me a sublime record by the traditionnal singer Texas Gladden recorded by Alan Lomax. I’d like to quote his introductory notes to the post as its really express what i feel about traditionnal folk music (and as a french guy, i don’t have the mastery of the english language to write myself such good things).
“Like most musics, I suppose, the more you listen to folk music the more you develop a taste for it. But part of the fascination that’s particular to folk music is that you’ll hear bits and pieces of one song that you could have sworn you heard in a completely different song. And you’d be right. Because folk music is an evolved music, and like humans & chimpanzees, there are uncanny similarities lurking just below the surface that point to some invisible, unknowable ancestral precedent. And, like all things subject to evolution by natural selection, the essential parts are maintained and the extraneous, inconsequential bits fall aside. What this means in terms of folk music, particularly these old traditional ballads, is that while a song may be quirky and seemingly obtuse, at some level (often a non-conscious, irrational level), the song is deeply meaningful and helps people to negotiate the trials and uncertainties of this muddled mortal existence. And, of course, since folksong-evolution is an organic process in an oral tradition, sometimes bits and pieces get lost along the way and we’re left with only fragments (you could say this too is a product of natural selection: the part that remains is that which is most memorable). And since it is sung by people who weren’t professional musicians, it had to relate to things that everyday people could relate to, rather that abstruse musical concepts and the self-indulgent wankery that professional artists are susceptible to. The universal subjects are thus revealed: love, death, nature, heartbreak, childhood, remorse, dream/spiritual encounters, and leaving home. These themes can be found recurring in folk music and most great narrative art across time, from Homer to Shakespeare to Stan Brackage. It’s as if these subjects keep coming back because they’re the moments in our lives that stay with us, and we need songs & stories like these to help mark those moments and distill meaning from them. And while this music is rather difficult to listen to by modern standards, if you do take the time to listen to it, it’ll work it’s way under your skin and into the back of your mind, which is where it truly belongs. There it will take seed, whispering things to your irrational dream-mind, calling you back to time immemorial and rousing odd emotions like a broom rousing dust bunnies from corners and crevices.”
-I’m still working on my next post, “The John Henry Variations” and i already have selected 50 performances of this glorious song…
17 “John Hardy was a desperate little man” by The Carter Family
The Carter Family’s World
The Carter Family hold a very special place in the history of american vernacular music, their influence and legacy is immense, not only on country music but also on folk and rock artists of the past fifty years and the misterious charm of their music continues to haunt many comtemporary artists. Yet, the music of Sara, Maybelle and A.P. Carter seems deceptively simple when you first hear it and it didn’t changed much during the fifteen years they played together. Most of the time Sara was the lead singer and played the autoharp or guitar backup while Maybelle was singing harmony and played the melody and the chords with her distinctive and unique guitar style. From time to time, A.P. Carter sang bass on the chorus or even sang lead on a few songs, his presence being in the same time very discrete but adding a unique touch to many of the Carter’s performances. Their repertoire was rooted in the folk traditions of the Virginia mountains where they lived: the folk ballads, the sentimental songs, the shape-note singing of the church, the Blues of the african-american, all this was melted in a new and unique style they applied to all their songs. It was A.P who was collecting all the time new material for their recordings, going “song hunting” in the small towns and cities of the South, sometimes with the help of a black songster called Lesley Riddle whose songs were included in the Carters’s repertoire. There’s a immediacy and in the same time a certain distance in their recordings that is quite hard to describe with words, at least for me, but the magical alchemy of Sara’s singing and Maybelle’s guitar playing makes one of the greatest american music ever recorded.
-On this page about the documentary movie “Will the circle be unbroken”, you can explore the history of the Carter Family through texts and photos.
-When the Carters came down to Bristol, Tennessee in 1927 to a recording session organized by Ralph Peer for the Okeh records company, they were just trying their luck, like many other mountain folks did in those years, at least it would provide a few days break from the daily routine life of hard work they had in their Clinch Mountain home. Read more on those legendary sessions here.
-I strongly recommend the biography “Will you miss me when i’m gone”, written by Mark Zwonitzer and Charles Hirshberg. An essential reading for all the Carters fans…
-All of the sides recorded by the original Carter Family (Sara,Maybelle and A.P) are available at a very cheap price on two JSP box-sets and there’s also a big box set issued by Bear Family, much more expensive but it contains a big hardcover book of 220 pages with essays, photos and lyrics to all the songs they recorded.
-If you don’t have already one of these, I offer you for now all the songs they recorded on may, 1928, the session which includes “John Hardy was a desperate little man”, the first Carter track that appear on the Anthology. There will be more in the future…
TRACK LIST:
1.Meet Me By The Moonlight Alone
2.Little Darling Pal Of Mine
3.Keep On The Sunny Side
4.Anchored In Love
5.John Hardy Was A Desperate Little Man
6.I Ain’t Gonna Work Tomorrow
7.Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone
8.River Of Jordan
9.Chewing Gum
10Wildwood Flower
11.I Have No One To Love Me (But The Sailor On The Deep Blue Sea)
12.Forsaken Love
The John Hardy Variations
“John Hardy” stands right next to “John Henry” as one of the most popular “figure” in the folk song tradition (In the Anthology too, they are next to each other). In fact, many people combined the two songs and many scholars confused the two characters as Alan Lomax once said. Both were black railroad workers but their story is quite different. The historical John Hardy killed a man during a crap game and was hanged for his crime. Before his execution he wanted to make peace with God so they sent a preacher and went to the river to baptise him. On the scaffold he claimed his repentance for his crime and probably sang some verses that would be included in the ballad that bore his name. The origin of the song itself is hard to determinate as it can be a mix of spontaneous verses of work songs and white balladry put around the story of John Hardy’s life. But, like many other songs, it was sang by black folks before whites began to sing it. And now, except for the famous Leadbelly rendition of the song and maybe a few other, all the recordings of the song that i heard were by white people.
-To read the whole story about John Hardy, the historical facts and the origins of the song, go to this page.
-On this page, you’ll read more about John Hardy’s execution and have the lyrics of the Carter Family’s version
-I’ve compiled 36 versions split in two parts. The song became a very popular instrumental piece in the folk and bluegrass world in the last fifty years so i featured many examples on guitar, banjo, and even dulcimer between the singing versions. There’s also a jazz one by The Duke Ellington Orchestra and a rock one by The Gun Club. The tune of the song has a “bluesy” feel to it that reminds us of his black origin and most of the performers put their own twist into it whithout changing the original tune. The variations in the lyrics are very small in the contemporary performances compared to the old ones. In the Roy Harvey’s version, another folksong about a hanging (“The maid freed from the gallows” or “Gallows Pole”)” is mixed with the ballad of John Hardy.
TRACK LIST of part one:
(the title is “John Hardy” except where indicated)
1.Lead Belly, from ”Classic African American Ballads”
2.”John Holland”, Almeda Riddle, from Ozark Folksongs
3.Dick Rosmini, from “Adventures for 12 String, 6 String and Banjo”
4.Jake Krack, Bob Buckingham,Todd Clewell, Amy Buckingham, from the Digital Library of Appalachia
5.Odis Bird, from The Max Hunter Folksong Collection
6.Luther Russell, from “Lowdown World (And Other Assorted Songs)”
7.Tommy Jarrell, Oscar Jenkins and Fred Cockerham, from “Down to the Cider Mill”
8.Buell Kazee, from “Buell Kazee Sings and Plays”
9.Norman Blake, from ”Live At McCabe’s”
10.Duke Ellington, from “Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra 1941″
11.Glen Smith, from “Clawhammer Banjo, Volume Three”
12.Country Gentlemen, from “On The Road (And More)”
13.Tony Rice, from “True Bluegrass Essentials”
14.Bonnie Russell and the Russell Family, from “Mountain Dulcimer Galax Style”
15.Chris Smither, from “Leave the Light On”
16.The Gun Club, from “Miami”
17.”John Hardy Blues”, Roy Harvey & Jess Johnston & the West Virginia Ramblers, from “The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of: Super Rarities & Unissued Gems Of The 1920s & 30s”
18.”Johnny Hart”, Woody Guthrie, from “Muleskinner Blues: The Asch Recordings, Vol. 2″
TRACK LIST of part two:
1.Ollie Gilbert , from The Max Hunter Folksong Collection
2.Paul Clayton, from “Dulcimer Songs and Solos”
3.Tommy Jarrell, from “Legacy of Tommy Jarrell, Volume 3: Come and Go with Me”
4.Glenn Yarbrough, from “The Roots Of Americana Folk & Blues”
5.Wayne Henderson, from “Made & Played”
6.Frank Proffitt, from “Frank Proffitt Sings Folk Songs”
7.Drunk, from “Phineas Gage”
8.J. Thibodeau, from “Everyday Shoes”
9.Pete Seeger , from “American Ballads”
10.Koerner, Ray & Glover, from “The Return of Koerner, Ray & Glover”
11.Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, from “Best of the Vanguard Years”
12.Walter Williams, from “Kentucky Mountain Music, Part 4″
13.Ernest V. Stoneman, from “The Unsung Father Of Country Music”
14.Dock Boggs, from “His Folkways Years 1963-1968″
15.John Hardy Fields Ward, Glen Smith & Wade Ward, from “Bluegrass from the Blue Ridge: A Half Century of Change – Country Band Music of Virginia”
16.Manfred Mann, from “At Abbey Road”
17.Alvin Youngblood Hart, from “Territory”
18.Peggy Seeger, from “Saturday Night at the Bull and Mouth”
-Here are two other great versions on Youtube:
